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Conflict in Syria

Sochi Congress won’t close chapter on Syrian political crisis — Kremlin

The Syrian National Dialogue Congress is due to take place in Sochi on January 29-30

© Dmitriy Serebryakov/TASS

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. It’s wrong to expect that the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi will close the chapter on the political settlement in Syria, although holding the event is a very important "milestone," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

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"The step of holding the Congress is a rather significant progress towards political settlement in Syria, which certainly cannot be exhaustive. That’s why it should not be expected that here in Sochi the chapter on political settlement will be closed, this would be incorrect," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman said the Russian leader had no plans to meet with the Congress participants if the Sochi meeting was a success. "There are no such plans now, you know, the work is underway there at another level. In this case here it is more important to achieve a result that everyone will assess and analyze after the Congress," Peskov said.

In comments on the participants of the talks, which have not been confirmed so far, Peskov noted that "the work that is being done now is extremely challenging and thorny, and many problems are yet to be solved and a lot of difficulties are to be overcome."

The Syrian National Dialogue Congress is due to take place in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi on January 29-30. The peace conference is expected to bring together about 1,500 participants. Among them are delegations from Syria and observers, largely from the United Nations. The congress is due to set up a commission for drafting a new Syrian constitution.

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